Palme d'Or-winning director Apichatpong Weerasethakul and five other Thai indie filmmakers -- including Pimpaka Towira, Aditya Assarat, Soros Sukhum, Anocha Suwichakornpong, and Lee Chatametikool – have joined forces to found Mosquito Films Distribution. The directors say the banner will focus on international sales and festival distribution for the partners’ films, along with upcoming titles from the next generation of young Southeast Asian filmmakers.

“We are so busy day to day that we sometimes forget we have amassed quite a beautiful set of movies," said Weerasethakul, who won the top prize at Cannes in 2010 for his most recent feature, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. "I think it's time we unite and share these films to the world. I, for one, am fascinated by the aesthetic of the new Thai films. I am certain we are heading towards something more and more innovative.”

Mosquito Films Distribution will make its debut at the Rotterdam Film Festival, opening Jan. 22, representing four films: Concrete Clouds, directed by Chatametikool and co-produced by Weerasethakul; The Songs of Rice, directed by Uruphong Raksasad and produced by Towira; Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy, directed by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit and produced by Assarat; and the omnibus feature Letters from the South, co-directed by Assarat, Tsai Ming-Liang, Tan Chui Mui, Royston Tan, Midi Z, and Sun Koh, and produced by Tan Chui Mui.

The directors have hired Sompot Chidgasornpongse, a director himself and a frequent collaborator with Weerasethakul, as the outfit's general manager. Chidgasornpongse, along with Sukhum and Chatametikool, will attend the upcoming Rotterdam and Berlin festivals to introduce the new venture to potential clients.

Assarat, whose debut feature Wonderful Town (2007) won the Busan Film Festival's New Currents Award, added: “We are all friends who have collaborated during the productions of our previous films. The new company is about extending that collaboration into distribution as well… We want to be the brand that comes to mind when you think of Southeast Asian cinema.”